Chapter 1041 - 508: Central Hub of the Lost Land

Chapter 1041: Chapter 508: Central Hub of the Lost Land

This is a bit strange, dragons and demons are different forces.

Li Ang ran the information through his mind, speculating on a few possibilities and then put the doubts aside for now, whispering a few words to Elaphia.

Blondie Douding nodded, and after her side and the Cloud Wanderer discussed the battlefield cleanup and the upcoming advance, she specifically called out A Xiang.

"What’s up, you two?"

The black-haired young man no longer had the perpetual smile he once wore.

"Li Ang has discovered that you’ve been subjected to Curse Art," Elaphia said, lifting her chin.

A Xiang was stunned, scratched his head, a bit puzzled: "It happened without me knowing? Is Curse Art really that powerful? Then why are witches so weak... Ah, I didn’t mean it like that."

He glanced at Li Ang, smiling sheepishly.

"Aifei used Curse Art for easy understanding, but in reality, to achieve this effect, it’s no longer Curse Art."

Li Ang reinforced the concepts of "Curse", "Demon", and "Spirit Casting Art" to A Xiang, who already knew about the existence of the Crimson Demon.

The latter nodded heavily: "So that’s how it is. Hey, in the Council Tower, I thought these existences were far from me. Are they the kind that come looking for you just because you know about them?"

"Not really, unless you’ve messed up something of theirs during your adventures."

When Li Ang was initially invited to the Knight Resolution Council, all the attendees knew about it.

A Xiang was still perplexed: "It’s only been a few months since, and I’ve never organized a full team gathering, let alone any major raid. Apart from the Golden Kingdom, nothing else I’ve done would attract demons. It’s inexplicable."

"Don’t think about it now, let me lift the curse for you first," Li Ang said.

A Xiang nodded in agreement. He glanced around; in the environment of mud and dragon corpses, there seemed to be no good place to sit or lie down. But before he reacted, Li Ang had already withdrawn his casting hand.

"Is it done already?"

"Yes," Li Ang chuckled, "Resolving this only takes a moment for me; the main thing is to get your consent."

"Understood, thanks, I owe you one."

A Xiang rubbed his temples, his squinty eyes opened a bit wider, his eyeballs rolled, as if the coherent thoughts and clarity returned to his mind.

"I can feel the difference. Indeed, I was cursed."

Crossing his arms and savoring it a bit, the head of the Cloudwalkers Guild said, "Though you say this power is held by those related to demons, I feel it seemed to revolve around making me lose ’Bone-Deep Passion and Scorn’."

"Otherwise, its strongest influence wouldn’t appear when I was about to draw the Destiny Cold Wave and conveniently cooperate with that green dragon. It’s called Valarg, right?"

The young man’s grievances gradually sank into the deeper layers of his emotions. On the surface, he seemed calm and unruffled, but Li Ang could sense that he wouldn’t let it go just like that.

"Then the caster, or should we say the casting medium, must be related to people or things from the Golden Kingdom."

Demons don’t easily manifest. The closest Li Ang ever came to a real demon was actually outside the gate of the Land of Ten Thousand Spirits—a realm reached by entering a transcendent state, painted in oils, where the forces of the otherworld continuously lurked around. Even without the demon’s body, it was closer than the Six armed Demon incident to a genuine demon power.

Considering this, Li Ang prudently extended the suspects to include "things associated with curses," "demon worshipers with ulterior motives," and such.

Following his words, A Xiang began to recall, "The exploration of the Golden Kingdom was first accepted not by us, but by a mid-ranked Sky Cavalry mission. However, the day before their mission, the enemies they had provoked found them, and everyone was brutally reduced to heavy injuries."

The black-haired young man scratched his head again: "I and the captain of that team are drinking buddies. Just before the incident, we’d had a drink together, so when the Order Knights investigated nearby, I was made aware of the matter. The whole team had made ample preparations for the lucrative mission, and the client had waited a long time. I happened to have nothing to do, so I took up the task. The price was that guy had to share some of his good wine collection afterward."

"Nothing out of the ordinary happened during the exploration itself. According to Professor Zelas Caleo’s suspicious points, our ship dispersed the storms created by sand and wind magic after we discovered the Golden Kingdom."

When he mentioned "Zelas," Li Ang and Elaphia exchanged glances.

"During this, you haven’t had any contact with the Yijie Association?" Li Ang asked.

"Yijie Association? Why ask them?"

"Because I entrusted them to trace the whereabouts of Destiny Cold Wave. After you discovered the Golden Kingdom, they gave me this information. Those people are proficient in various secret techniques, from diverse origins, so I’m thinking the caster might be hiding among them."

"I haven’t really interacted with them. After discovering Destiny Cold Wave, I initially planned to take it, but those Wyrm Dragons made it momentarily impossible. When I saw it, there were not only our members on the exploration ship but also people providing logistical support. We can’t control their mouths."

A Xiang laughed helplessly, "I thought at the time, since no one else has the power to claim that sword and other Celestial Groups are occupied with other matters, the sword is mine without needing to control the information. In retrospect, perhaps I was influenced then. By my habit, at the very least, I would bribe these people not to speak for a while; by the time the news spread, I would almost have it."